For the first time since the landmark REVOLUTION 2020 pay-per-view, All Elite Wrestling returns to the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, IL! Nearly two years ago, this arena hosted the Wrestling Observer & Pro Wrestling Illustrated Match Of The Year with the World Tag Team Title Match, witnessed the crowning of Jon Moxley as AEW World Champion, and was voted as Best Major Wrestling Show of 2020! The Wintrust Arena is a special location in the history of AEW, and it is such an exciting moment to bring DYNAMITE to the Windy City fans!
DYNAMITE: THANKSGIVING hits the airwaves Wednesday night LIVE at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT, and at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences! “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson aims to kick the head of Chicago's own Colt Cabana while Thunder Rosa battles Jamie Hayter in the next Quarter-Final round of the TBS Women's Title Tournament! Plus the unlikely quartets of Cody Rhodes and The Death Triangle battle Andrade El Idolo, Malakai Black, and FTR in an 8-Man tag, and CM Punk returns home to face QT Marshall!
But in advance of Wednesday night's festivities, visit the official AEW YouTube channel to watch the latest episodes of DARK: ELEVATION, AEW DARK, and ROAD TO, plus follow the official Twitter for breaking news, highlights from events AS THEY HAPPEN, the latest rankings and more!
YGGYFHKI...
“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana
Last week, after defeating Evil Uno, Bryan Danielson said he would go through every member of The Dark Order en route to facing AEW World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page, and Bryan himself called out Colt Cabana for this fight. This is an instance, a challenge, that is about more than just trying to beat all of Page's friends before they fight over the AEW World Title: this one is also about humiliation. Bryan wants to beat Cabana in front of his hometown audience, he wants to kick Colt's head in just a few miles away from his studio...apartment...in addition to sending a message to Hangman.
Now, the Adam Page connection aside, Danielson and Cabana have a rich history all their own. They've fought in singles matches, tag matches, three way bouts, giant multi-man tag matches, and one on single occasion were actually tag partners. Multiple championships have been contested between Bryan and Colt, they've fought for five minutes and they have battled to a 60 minute draw; they've done it all as foes, but the constant in their one-on-one affairs is that Bryan has always found a way to win. That aforementioned sixty minute draw, that is the closest Colt has come to defeating Danielson, coincidentally that 8/26/06 battle in St. Paul, MN also marks the last time they had a singles bout.
15 years and three months later, Bryan and Colt step into the ring once again in front of the largest audience that will have ever witnessed one of their battles. A sold-out Wintrust Arena will most likely rally behind “Boom Boom” as the hometown hero attempts to stifle the momentum of “The American Dragon”. It's about the AEW World Title and it's about that sadistic part of Danielson trying to humiliate Colt, but it's also about Cabana showing why he is one of the most respected men in the AEW locker room and demonstrating to all that he is every bit the world class grappler. Colt too has traveled the world, he has studied under the masters, and is particularly adept at the European style of professional wrestling. There is that fun, the levity that Colt brings to the table, but when the time comes for serious business, there are few men on the roster as skilled as Colt.
Danielson, more than nearly anyone in AEW, knows what Cabana has to offer and yet Dragon's desire to embarrass The Dark Order, or perhaps his own unflagging self-belief, has led him to this challenge. Will it be “The American Dragon” or “Boom Boom” who gets their hand raised in the Windy City?
EIGHT MAN GRUDGE MATCH...
AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix), Cody Rhodes, & PAC
vs.
Andrade El Idolo, FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood), & Malakai Black
The disparate threads that have weaved their way through the careers of these eight men are being pulled tight Wednesday night on DYNAMITE, and joining them together in this tag team affair! FTR has been operating as hired hands for Andrade El Idolo the last several weeks, starting with disguising themselves as Las Super Ranas to rob The Lucha Brothers of the AAA Tag Team Titles and continuing on to help Andrade defeat Cody Rhodes. There was probably some satisfaction for FTR in putting a hurt on Cody as well, given his propensity for mocking them on older BTE YouTube episodes prior to their signing with AEW.
The relationship between Andrade and Malakai Black has also spun together to decimate Cody Rhodes and PAC on multiple instances. Although Cody and PAC came together, barely, to win their tag team bout at FULL GEAR 2021, their binding ties are threadbare at best, clearly evident by how little the two men cooperated that cold night in Minneapolis. It was more like two singles matches happening concurrently than a tag team affair, very evident by the fact PAC essentially picked up the win for his team by himself as Cody was entangled with Malakai on the outside. Of course, after the fact, Cash Wheeler and Tully Blanchard were right there to assault Andrade's foes, cementing the fact that neither PAC nor Cody were free of FTR quite yet.
And that brings us to this Wednesday night where these forces, these eight competitors with little tying them together save mutual disdain for each other (and cash flow in the case of FTR) will attempt to unite to decimate one another! At least in the case of Cody and Death Triangle, three of the four men have been operating on the same wavelength for quite some time, while Cody and PAC have demonstrated they could (relatively) function as a team long enough to win a match.
Across the ring, obviously the current AAA Tag Champions and former AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR are a world class tag team who are so completely unified it can be believed they read each other's minds. Andrade and Malakai clearly have come to some understanding as they've been involved in each others business for several weeks now, and much like PAC/Cody, managed to function as a tag team at FULL GEAR 2021, albeit to different results.
Now the question is just what will happen when the numbers swell from four at The Target Center to eight men battling it out at The Wintrust Arena? Which foursome will come out ahead in Chicago?
ONE-ON-ONE...
CM Punk vs. QT Marshall
Last week on DYNAMITE, two very different men entered into The Chartway Arena as victorious individuals after FULL GEAR 2021. One achieved his victory in a typically underhanded fashion, yet the next night bragged about it as if he had conquered the world with just sweat equity. The other went through a violent, bloody, war of attrition that divided the fans inside the Target Center, but he did not come to Virginia to brag and boast, in fact he did not so much as open his mouth when he stepped out into the arena in response to the former individual's boasts.
In fact, CM Punk left MJF in a position with which he is quite unfamiliar: verbally flummoxed. Without saying a word, just by staring Max down, Punk left the two-time Dynamite Diamond Ring winner at a loss for words, and looking rather foolish with his empty hand extended while “The Best In The World” just walked away. That was how last Wednesday night was spent with those two individuals, but clearly there was another man who had his eyes on this interaction but unlike MJF, QT Marshall was not at a loss for words.
Perhaps QT wasn't at a loss because Punk was not unexpectedly in his face, or perhaps it is because Marshall is not of that same generation as Max who were inspired by men like CM Punk to lace up their own boots. Whatever the case may be, QT is dead set on ruining Punk's Chicago homecoming and casting a pall over his Thanksgiving holiday. Will it be Marshall who puts Punk to sleep in The Chi, or will it be Punk who makes QT look like a turkey?
TBS WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT QUARTER-FINAL...
Jamie Hayter vs. Thunder Rosa
***WINNER FACES JADE CARGILL IN SEMI-FINALS***
There are plenty of issues lingering between Thunder Rosa, the AEW Women's World Champion Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, and the women who compromise her entourage. Despite a track record that has seen wins for both sides of the equation, ever since Rosa defeated Baker in their Unsanctioned Lights Out fight at DYNAMITE: ST PATRICK'S DAY SLAM, and has subsequently dominated any interactions with Baker, Jamie Hayter, or Rebel. In fact, it could be argued that the Women's World Champion has actively avoided fighting Thunder given that she has gone undefeated in singles competition since a March 1st loss to Nyla Rose, and only tasted defeated in a tag match at the REVOLUTION 2021: BUY-IN and a Three Way with Jade Cargill and Nyla Rose. In fact, it is apparently not even acceptable to speak her name around the champ and her minions:
Well no matter how Baker feels about the situation, Jamie Hayter is going to have to do more than just speak Thunder Rosa's name, she is going to have to square up with one of AEW's most successful competitors throughout 2021. Rosa has racked up a 34-4 record on the year, she is 29-3 in one-on-one bouts, and while her standing in the rankings may have earned her a bye in the First Round, Thunder is the type who would fight every woman on the roster if that's what it takes to get to the TBS Women's Championship.
Meanwhile, while Jamie Hayter had to fight Anna Jay in the First Round, she didn't exactly do it on her own, and it's a virtual lock Thunder Rosa will experience the same situation. The difference being that Rosa has handled it all before from this group, and has no problem smacking Rebel or Britt in the mouth when (not if) they get involved.
The winner of this one will collide with Jade Cargill in the Semi-Finals, and that is definitely a battle Rosa would love to revisit in a one-on situation, but before it can happen, she has to make it through Jamie Hayter, Rebel, and likely the Good Doctor as well, looking to stick it to Thunder Rosa any way she can!
DYNAMITE: THANKSGIVING comes your way LIVE at 8pm EST/7pm CST on TNT this Wednesday night, as well as on AEWPlus.com for our international audiences! With Danielson headhunting The Dark Order on his hunt for the AEW World Title, the continuation of the TBS Women's Title Tournament, and the high-tension 8-Man tag match, fans are in store for one wild evening inside the sold-out Wintrust Arena!
Before that starts, head over to the official AEW YouTube channel to catch this week's editions of DARK: ELEVATION and AEW DARK, in addition to the latest ROAD TO special. For the Full Elite Experience, check out the official Twitter for breaking news, the latest rankings, and highlights from events AS THEY HAPPEN!